Kate Forbes’s gay marriage blunder

Mistakenly, I assumed that politicians supporting Kate Forbes’ campaign to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the SNP understood she has certain views which diverge from modern orthodoxy. I assumed her pro-life credentials on the question of abortion could be accompanied by an acceptance that, whatever her personal views, the law – and debate – on abortion was settled. 

If this was all, I thought, priced-in, I also assumed that Forbes would have a better answer to questions she must surely have anticipated. For reasons that are currently hard to understand, Forbes is engaging in a live experiment to see if you can become leader of a political party without doing any politics. 

Yesterday, Forbes confirmed something which was hardly a secret. Had she been a member of the Scottish parliament at the time, she would have voted against same-sex marriage. This cannot, surely, surprise many of her erstwhile supporters. Yet it seems to have done so and a number of MSPs previously backing Forbes have deserted her this morning.